Lions split Day Two of SAC/PBC Crossover play
The Lions wrapped up SAC/PBC Crossover play Saturday evening with a 1-3 record. The lone victory came against Lander in the first contest of Day Two.
GREENWOOD, S.C. - The Lions wrapped up SAC/PBC Crossover play Saturday evening with a 1-3 record. The lone victory came against Lander in the first contest of Day Two.
GAME 1
GREENWOOD, S.C. - Lauren Hochstetler's game-high 11 kills led the Mars Hill volleyball team past Lander in three sets Saturday afternoon to kickoff Day Two of SAC/PBC Crossover action. The win snapped the Lions' four-game losing streak.
Mars Hill pounced on the Bearcats from the first set and never let up as they swept the Peach Belt Conference foe 25-22, 25-15, 25-14.
Maddie Spurgeon led all players with a .438 hitting percentage, hammering home seven kills on 16 attempts with no errors. Sarah Pasour and Sara Fahrenbrook reached double-digits in assists with 17 and 14, respectively.
Rebecca Butler continued her excellent play in the non-conference matches, adding another seven kills and 21 digs on the afternoon. Sally Anne Johnson had three of the team's seven blocks.
Lander struggled throughout the contest with team hitting percentages of .067, .057 and -.114 in the three sets. Their matching 27 kills and errors resulted in a team hitting percentage of .000 on the afternoon.
Sophia Perkins had 17 of the 25 Lander assists in the match. Hannah Hritz and Kirstin Martindale tied for team lead with nine kills apiece and Hannah McManus led all players with 22 digs.
The Lions moved to 5-12 on the season while Lander fell to 10-7.
Mars Hill will conclude SAC/PBC Crossover play against Georgia College at 4 p.m.
GAME 2
GREENWOOD, S.C. - A back and forth affair saw the Mars Hill volleyball team drop their final game in SAC/PBC Crossover action to Georgia College in four sets (17-25, 24-26, 28-26, 23-25). Maddie Spurgeon led all players with 16 kills and had a team-high .371 hitting percentage.
After dropping the first two sets, The Lions jumped out to a 10-2 lead in the third and maintained a sizeable advantage until late in the set. Leading 21-17, Georgia College capitalized on five straight errors to take a 22-21 lead. The teams exchanged multiple leads in the final moments of the set until the Lions rallied to take it, 28-26.
Mars Hill, carrying a 13-9 lead midway through the fourth set, once again found attack errors to be costly as the Bobcats took the next five points. The Lions would regain the lead following an attack error by the Bobcats when the score was tied at 16 all. They would go on a five point run off of Lauren Hochstetler's service, which saw her notch two of her four aces in the contest. Carrying a 23-21 lead late, the Bobcats clawed back into the contest taking the final four points to close out the Lions comeback bid.
Georgia College hit a team-high .343 in the first set to gain the early advantage over the Lions.
A seesaw battle in the second set saw the Bobcats pull away with a 26-24 set victory. Spurgeon had six kills in the frame.
Hochstetler led the Lions with 37 kills over the weekend, followed closely by Spurgeon who had 33 over the two days. Hochstetler also had six aces. Rebecca Butler racked up 77 digs, 28 kills and four blocks. Sally Anne Johnson had a total of 15 blocks over the span of two days. Abby King led the team with 50 assists in 10 sets played.
The Lions finished the crossover with a record of 1-3 and fall to 5-13 on the season. Georgia College goes to 12-4.
Mars Hill returns to conference play when they head to the road to take on Catawba Thursday, October 18. Catawba took the first meeting on Friday, September 15 in four sets inside Stanford Arena at Mars Hill. The rematch is scheduled for a 6 p.m. start.
